A PROPERTY developer has been fined £3,500 after admitting two offences of destroying bat roosts during work at a derelict North Yorkshire barn.

The Bat Conservation Trust said Keith Seed, 56, of Hartwith, Nidderdale, was aware of a survey that revealed the presence of both brown long-eared and common pipistrelle bats roosting in the bar but went ahead with plans to remove its roof.

The building work destroyed the roosts. Bats are a protected species.

Harrogate magistrates ordered Seed to pay £85 costs and a £120 victim surcharge as well as the fine.